He could be champion he's good enough to be, almost was a couple times. His biggest foe is out of the division, at least for now.

He's 1-1-1 his last 3 fights, but 2 of those were those close fights against Frankie.

He's virtually undefeated before that.(I count his sanctioned bout with Nate a draw and awknowledge his TUF submission loss to Nate as well).

I think UFC doesn't want to think of putting him in another title shot, and I can agree with it, however when we speak of top guys, he's still up there. Pettis just announced he's going to sit and wait, so who makes the best fight for Gray?

Loser of Benson/Melendez? That's alot of waiting.He already hasn't fought in 7 months and currently doesn't have anything scheduled.

Eddie Alvarez? Doesn't seem like much of an exciting debut

He already has fought Jim Miller

I wouldn't mind a 5 round fight against Nate Diaz, but I understand if that fight/rematch isn't being called for by the fans.

No disrespect to Healy, but what has he done to earn a fight with a Top 5 UFC LW? He's gotta break Top 10 before facing someone like Maynard.

I said in a thread last night, and I'll say it again: It should be Pettis fighting Benson and Melendez fighting Maynard.

But since we all know that's not happening, they should give Jim Miller the bout.

While I agree with you on Healey, I don't agree with you in thinking Pettis should be fighting Benson before Gilbert.

What are you basing this on?

I'm assuming you're basing it on the fact that Pettis was the last WEC Champ was was basically promised a title shot, but didn't want to wait and fought Guida, the rest is history.

But if my assumption is correct, than I would have to remind you that before Pettis fought Benson, people were ranking Gilbert as the #1 lw and were wanting Gilbert to fight for the lightweight title since Edgar had it.

Gilbert was also the SF lightweight champion, and in my opinion, the league and that division hold more weight than Pettis in the WEC.

It's understandable to want Pettis facing Benson b/c we just saw a spectacular performance from him, as well as we haven't seen Gilbert fight in a long time, but Gilbert was ahead of Pettis before Pettis fought Benson, Pettis also lost while Gilbert hasn't lost in four years.

No disrespect to Healy, but what has he done to earn a fight with a Top 5 UFC LW? He's gotta break Top 10 before facing someone like Maynard.

I said in a thread last night, and I'll say it again: It should be Pettis fighting Benson and Melendez fighting Maynard.

But since we all know that's not happening, they should give Jim Miller the bout.

While I agree with you on Healey, I don't agree with you in thinking Pettis should be fighting Benson before Gilbert.

What are you basing this on?

I'm assuming you're basing it on the fact that Pettis was the last WEC Champ was was basically promised a title shot, but didn't want to wait and fought Guida, the rest is history.

But if my assumption is correct, than I would have to remind you that before Pettis fought Benson, people were ranking Gilbert as the #1 lw and were wanting Gilbert to fight for the lightweight title since Edgar had it.

Gilbert was also the SF lightweight champion, and in my opinion, the league and that division hold more weight than Pettis in the WEC.

It's understandable to want Pettis facing Benson b/c we just saw a spectacular performance from him, as well as we haven't seen Gilbert fight in a long time, but Gilbert was ahead of Pettis before Pettis fought Benson, Pettis also lost while Gilbert hasn't lost in four years.

I don't believe SF outweighs WEC at all. The proof is right there, considering we just saw two WEC guys fighting for #1 Contender status to face the current champion who was ALSO a WEC guy. WEC LW imports were already topping lists while the Strikeforce imports have yet to break top ten. When we see SF guys other than Melendez start dominating the UFC competition, then you can say it outweighs the division Pettis fought in.

A lot of people believed Gil to be #1, but I'm not one of those people. Most of the top lightweights in the world have been in the UFC since '08-'09. Gil's always been second to the UFC champion since. He's got great wins, but the level of competition cannot be compared to the current top 3-5 of the UFC's LW division. His best win is a UD over Aoki. Look at what Eddie Alvarez did to him in one round.

My point is, Gil may be a long time contender to the belt, but Pettis earned his shot at the UFC championship by going through UFC fighters. Regardless of Gil's winning streak, he should have had one fight in the UFC before getting a shot at the belt.

Tomato Can - LOL at Gray Maynard not being "even close to Pettis". Give me a break. Pettis lost to Clay Guida, surely Gray Maynard would have a pretty good chance of beating him as well.

IMHO grey lost to clay too and more recent where as Pettis has come back to rattle of wins over top contenders cerrone who Diaz fought before his title shot and Lauzon. Grey can barely cut angles to close distance and comes straight in.

Tomato Can - LOL at Gray Maynard not being "even close to Pettis". Give me a break. Pettis lost to Clay Guida, surely Gray Maynard would have a pretty good chance of beating him as well.

IMHO grey lost to clay too and more recent where as Pettis has come back to rattle of wins over top contenders cerrone who Diaz fought before his title shot and Lauzon. Grey can barely cut angles to close distance and comes straight in.

Tomato Can - LOL at Gray Maynard not being "even close to Pettis". Give me a break. Pettis lost to Clay Guida, surely Gray Maynard would have a pretty good chance of beating him as well.

IMHO grey lost to clay too and more recent where as Pettis has come back to rattle of wins over top contenders cerrone who Diaz fought before his title shot and Lauzon. Grey can barely cut angles to close distance and comes straight in.

Guida beat gray? GTFO. Stylistically Maynard presents a lot of problems for Pettis. But back to the topic, maybe Varner? He is a rising star who needs a shot at the elite of the division

I don't believe SF outweighs WEC at all. The proof is right there, considering we just saw two WEC guys fighting for #1 Contender status to face the current champion who was ALSO a WEC guy. WEC LW imports were already topping lists while the Strikeforce imports have yet to break top ten. When we see SF guys other than Melendez start dominating the UFC competition, then you can say it outweighs the division Pettis fought in.

Using your own criteria, Gilbert Melendez SHOULD be fighting for the title.

"Considering we just saw two WEC guys fighting for the #1 contender status".

Reminder that the next UFC features former STRIKEFORCE CHAMPION Alistair Overeem fighting Bigfoot, and will get a title shot after he ko's him.

STRIKEFORCE WW Champion Nick Diaz was already scheduled to fight the champion, and has since been rescheduled to face him in March.

Strikeforce MW Champion Luke Rockhold wasn't being talked about as an opponent for Anderson before Chris Weidman was, but even he is now being discusses as a future opponent for Anderson.

Strikeforce womens champion Rhonda Rousey was crowned the champion and will headline for a title fight in her first UFC.

WEC is more relevent than Strikeforce was? I think not, and I think I just made a strong case.

If Gilbert came over to the UFC the same time Nick Diaz did, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. Just because he was locked into a contract and didn't come over until they were bought out, does not mean he should be skipped over. He was in line long before Pettis, and hasn't done anything to be passed over.

You seem to be forgetting that he LOST 2 years ago, while Gilbert hasn't lost in 4 years.

When Pettis lost to Guida, you didn't have him above Gilbert Melendez, this I know.

Since Pettis beat Benson Henderson, he has gone 3-1, finishing 2 of his 3 wins, while 1 of his wins was split decision against Stephens. You are putting TOO MUCH emphasis on his TWO recent knockout wins of J-Lau and Cerrone. They were impressive knockouts, but do those 2 knock outs really push him above Gilbert?

Don't bring the other weight classes into this. All those other title shots you're talking about don't apply to this. We're talking about lightweight, and as far as I'm concerned, WEC LW>Strikeforce LW. I have the proof to back that up because we see WEC LW's dominating their UFC counterparts. We have yet to see how SF LW's fair.

Oh, I definitely didn't have Pettis ranked above Gil when he lost. But, guess what? I do now. His last few wins come over opponents who are consistently fighting the best of the division.

Masvidal wasn't Top 10 when he fought Melendez. Thomson wasn't even Top 10 when he fought Melendez (in a very close fight) in May 2012. Both of them were listed Top 15-25 when they fought Gil. Just googled it.

Gil can sit at #3, but don't try to sell me the fact that he's above Pettis in ranking just because those sites say so. We all know Pettis deserves that shot before Gil. Rest assured if the Champion vs. Champion aura wasn't there, we'd be seeing Pettis/Henderson II in April.

"Since Pettis beat Benson Henderson, he has gone 3-1, finishing 2 of his 3 wins, while 1 of his wins was split decision against Stephens. You are putting TOO MUCH emphasis on his TWO recent knockout wins of J-Lau and Cerrone. They were impressive knockouts, but do those 2 knock outs really push him above Gilbert?"

I'm not putting any emphasis on anything, I'm simply stating facts. Pettis owns a victory over the current champion, and if anything should have any emphasis on it, it's that right there. True, while one of Pettis' victories is a split over Stephens, Melendez's last 4 fights consist of a spilt over Thomson, a unanimous over Masvidal, a TKO over Kawajiri, and another unanimous over Aoki.

I'm not saying Gil doesn't deserve a shot at the belt. I just have a problem with people saying Gil deserves it before Pettis.

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